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Kang Kek Iew
Kang Kek Iew, (born 17 November 1942) is a prisoner, war criminal and former senior official of the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979. As the head of the government's internal security branch (Santebal), he oversaw the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp where thousands were held for interrogation and torture, after which the vast majority of these prisoners were eventually executed. He reported directly to Son Sen, who served as Minister of National Defense. Prisons like Tuol Sleng were created to cleanse the population of suspected enemies of the revolution. In Tuol Sleng Duch ordered the execution of prisoners after their interrogation was completed. For example, on a list containing the names of 17 prisoners (eight teenagers and nine children), he wrote the order “Smash them to pieces.” On a longer list of detainees, his annotation reads “smash: 115; keep: 44 persons.” The text below this annotation reads “Comrade Duch proposed to Angkar; Angkar agreed.” On a list of 20 female detainees, Duch wrote annotations for each of them, ordering: “take away for execution,” “keep for interrogation” or “medical experiment". At least 100 detainees died after having all of their blood drawn for transfusions for wounded soldiers. Surgical operations were also performed on detainees in order to train medical staff. Duch impressed his superiors with his work and was appointed the head of Democratic Kampuchea's secret police, known as the Santebal. As the party purges increased towards the end of the Democratic Kampuchea period, more and more people were brought to Duch, including many former colleagues including his predecessor at Tuol Sleng, In Lon. Throughout this period, Duch built up a large archive of prison records, mug shots and extracted "confessions". On 6 January 1979, he was ordered by his superior to kill the remaining prisoners. The next day Duch was amongst the last Khmer Rouge cadres to flee Phnom Penh after it fell to the Vietnamese army. Though he was unable to destroy much of the prison's extensive documents, he saw to the execution of several surviving prisoners before he fled the city. He was the first Khmer Rouge leader to be tried by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime, and was convicted of crimes against humanity, murder, and torture for his role during the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. On 2 February 2012, his sentence was extended to life imprisonment. Even though he was responsible for the death of thousands of people, Kang Kek Iew, unlike other Khmer Rouge cadres (like Pol Pot), didn't try to dismiss or justify his crimes. He always admitted that he had been wrong and that he had done horrible things; he said that he repented and that he had converted to Christianity. Moreover, during the trial, he provided detailed accounts of what happened inside S-21 and inside the Khmer Rouge regime, and this helped shed light on the regime and other cadres' responsibility. Category:Modern Villains Category:Living Villains Category:Imprisoned Category:War Criminal Category:Destroyer of Innocence Category:Mass Murderers Category:Genocidal Category:Cold war villains Category:Sadists Category:Remorseful Category:Redeemed Category:Thugs Category:Elderly Category:Asian Villains Category:Oppressors Category:Lawful Evil Category:Corrupt Officials Category:Political Category:Mutilators Category:Torturer Category:Imprisoned Villains